Method of and apparatus for handling strand material



March 10, 1931.

E. M. BIDWELL METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING STRAND MATERIAL Filed Oct. 5, 192 2 Sheets-Sheet l Mien/0r [494/44 /4We// by M A27) @illlll I I Ill! March 10, 1931. E. M. BIDWELL 1,795,923

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING STRAND MATERIAL Filed Oct. 5, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i ii /9 5a 2a 5 1151i i i 3'6 1 I'll i F: I P, 40 L2 lmiii i ji Him Q5 Q7 I wa M... 10, 1931 UNITED STATES EDGAR MERRITT iBIDWEIiL, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELEC- PATENT OFFICE TRIO COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION NEW YORK r METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING STRAND MATERIAL Application filed October 3, 1927. Serial No. 223,610.

This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for handling strand material, and more particularly to mcthods of and apparatus for drying traveling strand material,

such as pulp covered wire and the like.

In handling strand material for the purpose of drying, as for example in drying pulp covered wire after the wire has been passed through polishers care must be exercised in order to prevent injurious distortion of the covering material during the drying operation. If the covered wire is subjected to any appreciable amount of bending or the covering thereof is engaged over an extended portion of its surface as it is conducted through a drying oven or zone, there is a potential danger of producing a deleterious distortion or flattening of the soft pulp covering. Such distortion orflattening mightTesultin the production of insulated wire which does not meet the capacity requirements.

The primary objects of this invention are to provide a simple and eificientmethod of and a durable means for effectively handling strand material with a minimum amount of bending of and engagement with the traveling material.

In accordance with'the general features of the invention, one embodiment thereof includes an open or skeleton type of rimless capstan by means of which the improved method may be effectively practiced, which is rotatable within a drying chamber and provided with a plurality of strand engaging chains positioned equi-distant from and spaced around the capstan axis. Strand material, such as a group of pulp covered wire of the type disclosed in Patent 1,615,416, is; sued on January 25, 1927, to Howard George Walker and Albert Thomas March, may be directed from a plurality of polishers into the drying oven upon the chains'which serve during the rotation of the capstan to. move the groups of strands in uniform spaced relation lengthwise of the capstan axis, the

groups of strands bein moved in opposite directions from a media point. In thls manner covered wire may be passed through the drying chamber without subjecting the material to deleterious bending or distortion.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein L Fig. 1 is a plan view of a. strand handling apparatus representing one embodiment of the invention and by means of which the 1mproved method may be efficiently practlced;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus disclosed in Fig. 1, a portion of the drying chamber being broken away to more thoroughly disclose certain of the capstan structures;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the.

apparatus as viewed from the right in Fig. 2, the upper and lower portion 0 the drylng oven and capstan being shown in section in order 'to present a clear disclosure;

Fig. 4 is a detailed vertical sectional view of one of the capstan hubs taken on the hne 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the uppermost strand engaging chains shown in Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of the structure disclosed in Fig.- 5.

Referring now to the drawings whereln like numerals have been employed to deslgnate similar parts throughout the various figures, it willbe observed that one embodlment of the invention includes an open or skeleton type of strand receiving rimless capstan denoted generally by the numeral 10 which is mounted upon a rotatable shaft 11 within a suitable drying oven 12. The drying oven 12 is provided with inlet conduits 14 and an outlet'conduit 15 which are designed to permitthe' free. circulation there- 10 includes a pair of flanged hub members nisms denoted generally by the numeral 21.

r 28 meshes with the chain 23, chains meshing with suitable sprocket wheels These chain mechanisms 21 include a pair of openly constructed conveyor chains 23 and 24 mounted between a pair of plates 25 arranged in parallelism and secured at the outer extremitiesof each set of companion supporting frames 19. At the outer extremities of each of the pairs of plates 25 is a stub shaft 27 which provides a bearing for a sprocket wheel 28. One of the sprocket" wheels 28 meshes with the conveyor chain 24 as,clearly shown in Fig. 5 and the other s rocket wheel 0th of these supported on a stub shaft 29 positioned medially of and extending between-the plates 25. Medially of the lower reach of each of the chains 23 and 24 and meshing therewith is a sprocket wheel 31 (Fig. 5) mounted upon a shaft 32 which carries a worm gear 33 at one extremity thereof. These worm gears 33 mesh with companion worms 35 mounted upon a shaft36 which is provided at one extremity thereof with a bevel gear 37 which meshes with a companion bevel gear 38. The gear 38 is supported at the outer extremity of a radial shaft 40 which supports a similar bevel gear 41 .at its inner extremity and this gear 41 meshes with a companion stationary gear 42, the hub of which provides a bearing for the rotatable shaft 11. From the foregoing it will be apparent that when rotation is imparted to the skeleton capstan 10 the bevel gears 41 secured at the inner extremity of each of the shafts 40 will be rotated and hence the chains 23 and 2.4 willbe moved in the direction indicated by the directional arrows (Figs. 3 and 5). It will be observed that the upper reaches of the chains 23' and 24 move outwardly and horizontally from the medial shaft 29 and the individual links of these upper reaches of the chain are supported and guided by tracks or rails 44 which are resiliently mounted at spaced intervals upon coiled springs 45 (Fig. 5). The outer surfaces of the links of the chains 23 and 24 are designed to engage strand material fed to the capstan 10 and are suitably curved at the point of strand engagement to reduce to a minimum the amount of bending to which thestrand is subjected as it is wound around the capstan.

Strand material such as strands of pulp covered wire 46 after being drawn through tremities of a pair of rocker arms 50 mounted upon a horizontal shaft 52 and the rearward extremities of the arms 50 support a suitable counterweight 53. The strands from the idler 49 are directed downwardly around a second grooved idler54 within the drying zone of the oven 12 (Fig. 2) and thence upon the inner portion of the upper reach of one of the chains 23 and 24, and upon continued rotation of the capstan several turns are eventually wound upon the chains as shown in Fig. 5. At this point it is to be understood that the idler 49 is capable of receiving a supply of strand material from two sets of polisher mechanisms 48 and thus one group of strands may be directed onto the upper reaches of the chains 23 and the other group of strands onto the upper reaches of the chains 24. The strands initially engage the inner portions of the chains 23 and 24 adjacent the shaft 27 and are urged outwardly therefrom upon rotation of the capstan. In the drawings each group of strands has been limited to ten, but obviously the apparatus may be designed to handle a larger or smaller group of strands as the case may require. As the capstan 10 rotates within the drying oven 12 the groups of strands fed thereto are urged lengthwise thereof through the action of the moving chains 23 and 24. In this manner each group of strands is uniformly passed through the drying oven in spaced relation and by reason of the open or ventilated design of the rimless capstan 10 the pulp covering may be readily dried without being subjected to extreme bending or distortion during the drying operation.

-After the strands have 'been completely dried they are passed over an idler 56 (Fig. 2.) and thence between the outer surface of a driven pulley 57 and the outer surface of a flexible belt 58 extending between a pair of pulleys 60 and 61. The belt 58 frictionally cooperates with the drivenpulley 57 so as to place a uniform and constant tension on the strands as they are being drawn from the capstan 10 and from this point the strands are directed to suitable take-up reels (not shown).

Rotation is imparted to the capstan 10 by means of the shaft 11 which has a bevel gear connection with a main drive shaft 63 (Figs. 1 and 3) which is connected with any suitable driving mechanism (not shown). The pulleys 57 are rotated by means of a shaft 64 upon which they are mounted and this shaft is rotated through a suitable worm and worm 65. In order to control-the speed of rotation of the capstanlO in accordance with the tension experienced by the strands as they are being drawn from the idler 49 a cone pulley 67 mounted upon the drive shaft 63 is employed (Figs. 1 and 3) which is connected.

. the tension on the strand 46 is increased the idler 49 will be lowered and the turning occasioned by the shaft 52. as the pulley 49 is lowered causes a shifting of the belt 69 so as to correspondingly reduce the speed of rotation of the capstan 10. Likewise, when the tension inthe strands decrease the counterweight 53 causes the idler pulley 49 to be carried upwardly with the result that the belt 69 will be shifted so as to correspondingly increase the speed of rotation of the capstan.

By employing the described apparatus for drying strand material, such as pulp covered wire, all-the deleterious efiects which necessarily resultwhen the strand is subjected to excessive bending or pressure is eliminated. The amount of bending experienced by the strands as they pass around each of the conveyor chains is very slight and this slight bending is experienced only by a very small portion of the strands as distinguished from the bending and pressure experienced by coated wire which is passed over pulleys and i the like. Thus by having an open or skeleton type of rimless capstan the strand may be engaged at intervals, thereby permitting the free circulation of heated air around the individual strands and the chains 23 and 24 serve very efl'ectively to maintain the strands in spaced relation as they are uniformly drawn through the drying oven. Thus it will be understood that this invention provides a very simple and effective means for producing covered wire. having-a covering of desired uniform thickness.

Although the invention has been described 1n connection with the process of drying pulp covered wire, it is to be understood that theinvention is capable of many other applications and should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: V

1'. The method of handling continuously traveling strand'material, which consists in winding a plurality of strands of material,

moving.the turns of one strand laterally in spacedrelation in a given direction from a predetermined winding position, and moving the 1 turns of another strand in a direction opposite to the lateral movement of the first mentioned strand. 1

2. In strand handling apparatus, a rimless.

winding means, and means supported thereby movable relative toand substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the winding means for supporting a turn of strand material.

3. In strand handling apparatus, a rimless winding means, and means supported thereby movable relative to and substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the winding.

me'ans for-supporting a turn of strand material, said supporting means being operable in response to the rotation of the winding means.

4. In strand handling apparatus, a wind ing means, and means supportedv thereby movable relative to and substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the winding means for moving turns of strand material 6. In strand handling apparatus, a plurality .of radial frame members rotatable about a common axis, and means carried at the outer portion of the frame members for supporting a turn of strand material and'for effecting the movement of the turn in a direc-' tion substantially parallel with the axis of rotation. I

7. In strand handling apparatus, a rimless strand winding means, and endless means supported thereby for engaging a turn of strand and for moving a turn of strand ma-- terial in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation-of the'winding means.

8. In strand handling apparatus, a strand winding means, endless means supported thereby for engaging a turn of strand material and for moving'it in a given direction, and a companion endless means for engaging a turn of strand material and for moving the turn in a direction opposed to the movement of the first mentioned turn.

9. In strand handling apparatus, a plurality of" radial frame members rotatable about a common axis, and means carried at the outer portion of the frame members for supporting turns of strand material and for effecting the movement of such turns in dif ferent directions during the? rotation of the framemembers.

16. In strand handling apparatus, a plurality of radial frame members equally spaced and rotatable about a common axis, and endmember, said, conveyor. members being 7 less conveyor members supported at the outer operable in response to the rotation of the frame members.

11. In strand handling apparatus, a strand winding means, meanscarried thereby comprising an endless conveyor for engagmg the strand material and for moving turns thereof across the Winding means, and means for resiliently supporting the portion of the conveyor which engages the turns of the strand material.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my-name this 24 day of September, A. D.

EDGAR MERRITT BIDWELL. 

